Holding of Palestinians in Israeli prisons without charge or trial
was the originating grievance of the latest protests

Paragraph-1 Contains

The issue that sparked the mass hunger strike among Palestinian
prisoners was that of imprisonment without charge or trial, a
practice Israel calls "administrative detention".

Paragraph-2 Contains

There are 308 Palestinians in administrative detention in Israeli
prisons. According to the Israeli human rights organisation,
B´Tselem, about one third have been held for between six months and a
year; one third have been held between one and two years; 13 have
been held between two and four and a half years; and two prisoners
have been held continuously for more than four and a half years.

Paragraph-3 Contains

Neither those detained nor their lawyers are informed of the
accusations or evidence against them, no charges are laid and no
trial is held. "Since the detainees do not know the evidence against
them, they are unable to refute it," say B´Tselem.

Paragraph-4 Contains

Israel says administrative detention is a necessary measure when
disclosure of information could compromise security. The individual
is detained in order to prevent him or her committing an act or
actions that may endanger public safety.

Paragraph-5 Contains

Administrative detainees are brought before a military judge, who
sets the term of detention up to a maximum of six months. This
period, however, may be repeated indefinitely.

Paragraph-6 Contains

B´Tselem says that administrative detention is permissible under
international law in exceptional cases to prevent a grave
danger. "Israel´s use of administrative detention blatantly breaches
these rules," it says. It claims that Israel uses the measure to
detain Palestinians for their political opinions and non-violent
political activity.

Paragraph-7 Contains

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, last week urged
that "those detained must be charged and face trial with judicial
guarantees, or released without delay".

Paragraph-8 Contains

Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli government, said administrative
detention was only used when there was no alternative. "We would
prefer a situation when every case could be tried in open court. But
in some cases you can´t expose in a public forum your confidential
sources and methods because it may put lives at risk."

Paragraph-9 Contains

He denied that any Palestinian was administratively detained because
of his or her beliefs. Many detainees were members of Islamic
Jihad, "a ruthless Iranian-backed organisation which believes every
Israeli is a legitimate target," he said.

Paragraph-10 Contains

The first hunger striker in the current wave was Khader Adnan, a
member of Islamic Jihad. He began refusing food in December shortly
after being imprisoned for his ninth period of administrative
detention. He ended his 66-day hunger strike after Israel agreed to
release him at the end of his four-month period.

Paragraph-11 Contains

The hunger strike has since broadened to other issues, such as the
use of solitary confinement, the ban on relatives from Gaza being
permitted to visit prisoners, and restrictions on access to
educational materials.